3D printing has attracted significant attention for its potential as a new manufacturing process offering versatility in the ability to rapidly produce tailored physical objects from the micro to macro scale. While the foundations of this technology were laid in the late 1980's, modern advancements have produced 3D-printers for applications such as personal home use, rapid prototyping, and production of biomedical devices. Hofmann, M.; ACS MacroLett., 2014, 3, 382-286. While the hardware utilized in this field is rapidly maturing, the materials used in the printing process generally rely on traditional commercial polymers such as poly(methyl methacrylate). However, in academic settings more exotic materials are in the phases of exploratory research. Sun, K., Wei, T. S., Ahn, B. Y., Seo, J. Y., Dillon, S. J., Lewis, J. A., Adv. Mater., 2013, 25, 4539-4543.
The field of 3D-printing can be significantly impacted by expanding the repertoire of materials available (and associated properties) as printable media. The ability to rapidly form dynamically crosslinked networks during material deposition is an attractive property for a printable medium. Extensive crosslinking of such a medium would yield a rigid structure with mechanical properties that could facilitate the printing of macroscale objects. In addition, a material with reversible thermosetting properties would allow one to modify a physical object after it is printed, offering an additional level of control not available when traditional materials are utilized as print media. In addition, the blending of materials that can participate in network formation would provide tailorable mechanical properties in the final structure. Use of such materials in 3D-printing methods and apparatus would expand the applicability of 3D printing.